Mother Says She Lost Her Son Because He Couldn't Afford Insulin

August 14, 2017 01:06 PM

(ABC 6 News) -- "On June 27th at 5:20 I received a phone call from his girlfriend saying that she had found him dead in his apartment. He had slipped into a diabetic coma and passed away from diabetic ketoacidosis because his blood sugars were too high and he didn't have enough insulin."

Nicole Smith-Holt talked to ABC 6 News this weekend and shared with us the story of how her son died earlier this summer. Nicole says she lost her son Alec because he couldn't afford his insulin medicine, "All of his supplies, his insulin, everything was going to come out of pocket until he met that $7,600 deductible. So, we found out, out-of-pocket, his insulin, his test strips, his needles, all of that was going to cost $1,300 a month."

"He called me from the clinic and said, 'Mom, it's not good.' And I said, "What do you mean it's not good? You have the flu. He's like, 'They just told me I have Type 1 diabetes.' Nicole said she remembers the day she first heard about the disease that took her son's life.

According to a report by the Alliance of Community Health-In 2002 patients were estimated to be paying an average of $213 a month on insulin.

By 2013, the price of insulin more than tripled costing patients an average of $736 per month.

"I've seen a lot of Medicare patients who have really high co-pays on their insulin and they have a really hard time affording their insulin. Sometimes they even go without it, which is serious.” that's according to Danielle Roach, a pharmacist at the Olmsted Medical Center.